Well, I'm on week 2 now of my Couch to 5K program. I've never been much of a jogger, but I think I can handle this. It starts of easy (run 60 seconds, walk 90) and takes about 1/2 hour out of my day. I've been doing it at lunch with a co-worker (insert a "that's what she said" joke here).

It starts of slowly like an old man lowering himself into a bathtub and the running intervals get longer and the rest periods get shorter until you are running the full 5k.

So far it's been fine and it will help my cardio. Next week I'm also going to start doing 3 classes of muay thai a week (same night as my jiu jitsu) and a capoeira class that I started on saturday. I'm hoping to do a jiu jitsu tournment in August so hopefully the threat of someone kicking my ass will motivate me to work harder to prepare for it. Winning a medal is nice, but not getting your ass kicked and having it posted on YouTube is nicer.

I didn't think I would like Capoeira, but it's fun. Sorta like a cross between yoga and break dancing. Georgette said that Capoeira looks amazing when it's done right, but it doesn't look that way when I do it. Still, it's a great workout. The next day you are sore in muscles that you didn't even know you had. The class is near my house and the instructor doesn't speak english, but with my "monkee see, monkey do" skills I manage it.

Trashcan Sinatras

I went to the Rock N Roll Hotel last night to see my favorite band, the Trashcan Sinatras. If you don't know who they are, I feel sorry for you. I'm not surprised you haven't heard of them, because they are far less popular than many shitty musicians (Yes Brett Michaels, I'm talking to you) but they are really good. They are the greatest (and possibly the only) rock band to ever come out of Scotland. I realize that saying you are the best band in Scotland is like saying you are the toughest kid on the chess team, but I assure you they are the best band you've never heard of.

I normally wouldn't be caught dead in Northeast DC (because it's not the safest area in DC and if you wander around there at night, you may literally be caught dead there), but I braved the rains, winds, junkies and hipsters and stayed up later than I should of on a school night, but it was worth it. I hope I can catch them on the their next US tour. In the meantime, I've got a cool T-shirt.

more questions than answers

I thought I would return to blogging, but I haven't felt like it much lately. My nephew, who turned 19 a couple of weeks ago, died in a car crash over Memorial Day weekend. That night I couldn't sleep at all and at 4am I watched this video more times than I can count. I don't know what I was looking for. Maybe I thought the outcome would change on one of those repeated viewings. Maybe I was looking for some kind of clue that it was all a mistake (that's not his car, somebody else was sitting in the driver's seat, maybe he made it out alive...). But no matter how many times I watched it, the ending never changed. Except for the crickets chirping, the video is eerily quiet and peaceful. They said he died on impact and didn't suffer. It's heartbreaking to watch, but although the ending never changes, at least it was peaceful.